We pushed open the heavy, giant doors and the smell of old books hit us. The library was massive, aisles and aisles of books all the way to the ceiling. A ripped and frayed rugged welcomed us as we stepped in. A row of chandeliers lined the ceiling. Rea was looking around with the biggest eyes.
"We are going to have to set up camp and stay here for a while. We are going to need to figure out food as well. This was way more than I thought could have ever survived after all the stories of this place, not to mention how it is outside. I don't even know where to begin. There's a possibility we can truly find some answers for you John!" She excitedly fired off as she looked for a place to get us set up.
She began clearing some rubble with magic, within minutes we had camp sorted and began making plans to secure some food. Anzar was to go out and hunt, and thankfully he was smart enough to understand. I would search through the city for anything relevant or important as well as food. We set out while Rea began piling books by her bedroll. She scurried around with excitement.
I walked out to the courtyard and decided to check the building right next to the library. The top floor had been completely burnt down. The door was barred, but with one solid kick the bar broke and the door flung open. The smell of mildew and burnt wood filled my nose. A small table with plates on it sat in the corner of the dark room. Rotten food was still on the plates, and a wooden chair was tipped over next to a stone stove. A shelf with a few books and a stair well going to the second floor were off to the other corner of the room. I grabbed the books for Rea and moved up the stairs. They groaned under my weight threatening to give way any second I took the wrong step. The second floor was totally destroyed, what used to be two rooms was nothing but black char. I shuffled around the wreckage and found a silver locket hanging on a charred wall. I pocketed the locket and went back down the stairs. I repeated the process with several other buildings, as suspected there wasn't any food that would be edible within the city. I did find several more books, several pieces of jewelry and some documents in a language I couldn't read. I started heading back to Rea. I ran into Anzar who had several deer carcasses on his back. At least he was successful in his hunt. As we entered, we could hear Rea complaining about how they had organized the books here. She was sitting in a chair with several piles of books surrounding her.
"Have you found anything?" I asked.
"Only several ancient history texts about what noble liked what on his morning toast. These guys wrote everything and anything down. It's utterly frustrating. A lot of this is just a thousand different ways to prepare one dish written by a noble. I want to bash my damn head against the wall. What was wrong with this city. What did you find?" She asked with frustration as she put a thick leather-bound book down.
"Odds and ends." I rasped handing her my bag of stuff.
She emptied the bag carefully and stacked the books off to one side. She didn't even bother with the silver. Her eyes scanned the covers of the new books, and she sighed throwing most of them aside.
"Seriously this city was full of pompous assholes. Why record some of this information. These documents look to be business ledgers, money in and out kind of thing. This one is a history book though so it might be important. Though I'm not entirely hopeful. I won't be surprised if I lose my mind reading all this dribble." She said with an exhausted sigh.
She flopped back into the wooden chair she had been sitting in and begun flipping through the new books. I walked over to Anzar and helped him get the deer of his back. I cleared a section of rubble and made a fire. I took the deer outside and cleaned them. Rolling their hides up and putting them aside as I butchered the meat. After all that was done, I went inside and began cooking. The smell of meat filled the air and soon Rea was over my shoulder her arms draped around my neck.
"Is the food almost ready? For someone who can't eat you sure can coo John." She giggled as I shrugged her off.
We sat on our bed rolls. Rea telling a story about her mother and one of her crazy antics. Apparently that woman was just completely insane. Rea talked late into the evening before she began yawning. She curled up on her bed roll covered with a wool blanket and passed out. Anzar was curled up by the cooking fire snoring. I walked outside and looked at the sky. The stars were beautiful. The wind passed through the empty city streets. You could hear thunder in the distance. The night air thick with moisture. The storm could be seen flashing over the horizon of the buildings. I went back in and settled down for the night. Soon the storm was overhead. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Anzar moved over to me and wrapped himself around my feet. Wind howled through the ruins of the library, putting out the cooking fire. The darkness surrounded us completely. Rea slept soundly. I sighed. The storm drug on into the better part of the next morning. Rea woke up eventually and immediately grabbed a book. This was our routine for about two weeks. During the day I scavenged, Anzar hunted, and Rea read. She was flying through the books. She did find several that she packed away for us to take with us when we left here. Finally, she finished, and we had a new lead.